Monrovia – A representative aspirant in Electoral District #3 in Montserrado County has welcomed the extension of voter registration (VR) period by the National Election Commission (NEC).
Report by Danesius Marteh, [email protected]
Atty. Kanio Bai Gbala said the extension is necessary to cover-up for the wasted first week due to logistical problems experienced by NEC.
The VR period, which began on February 1, should have ended on March 7 but NEC chairman Jerome George Korkoya announced a weeklong extension.
Cllr. Korkoya said all centers will be opened on Sundays and holidays from March 7-14 while centers that were closed, having reached 3,000 eligible voters, will be reopened for registration with a new threshold of 4,500 at the 2,080 centers.
He said it will cost NEC a little over US$1 million for the extension with current VR temporary staff being paid 25-percent of their current contractual fees.
Addressing a news conference on February 2, Korkoya blamed the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for having procured “faulty cameras”.
Gbala, however, called on NEC to speedily address the issue of people, who were either rejected on accounts of wearing hijabs or citizenship.
According to article three (eligibility) of an August 2016 VR regulations issued by NEC, a Liberian citizen, who is 18 years and above, may register as a voter except one who has been judicially declared to be incompetent, or of unsound mind, or who has been disenfranchised as a result of a conviction of an infamous crime and has not been restored to citizenship.
Montserrado County has witnessed the denial of female Muslims (for allegedly refusing to take-off their headscarves) and Mandingos (for allegedly being non-Liberians) at various centers.
Those rejected were never issued a notice of rejection in a prescribed form stating reasons for their rejection and informing the applicants of their right to appeal in keeping with article seven (rejection of application).
In a particular case, Muslims rejected in the Clara Town community, in keeping with article six, were told to bring either a valid Liberian passport; VR card previously issued by NEC; the sworn testimony by two registered voters who shall appear in person before the registrar and confirm the applicant’s eligibility to register; confirmation by a Liberian traditional leader who shall appear before the registrar and confirm the applicant’s eligibility to register; a birth certificate or certificate of naturalization but were denied despite presenting their past VR cards.
And Korkoya has admitted that “most of the complaints so far received by the NEC call centers came from Montserrado and its environs”.
Pundits believes those denials point to a grand scheme by NEC to under-register Montserrado, which is the most populated county and one of the strongholds of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).
Gbala is an aspirant on the ticket of the CDC and is a lawyer, with Masters Specialization in democratic governance and the rule of law.
He is also a civil society, political activist and transitional justice expert with many years of leading movements, projects and institutions in Liberia and across Africa.